Youth Education Itinerary – Amish Lifestyle Tour
Arthur is a great place to learn about culture and diversity, agriculture, rural life, and horse farming verses English farming. We have several options of educational tours available. We offer school tours that are fun and educational, even the teachers and children will have fun and learn something new about this area.
Easy One day trip
If you can get an early start, say by 8 or 8:30 in the morning, you can have a fun educational day trip from as far away as Chicago or St Louis. We try to have people begin in Arthur by 11 or 11:30am and can usually work everything into 3-4 hours. That would put you back on the road by 3pm for your trip home.
Youth / School Trip Options:
Apple Orchards, Pumpkin Patches, One Room Schools, Produce Gardens, Amish farm/home tour, English and Amish comparative farm tours, a meal in a Amish home, Youth and Group Camps, and The Illinois Amish Interpretive Center and Museum.
Suggested Youth Itinerary
Most school group tours start with about a 15 minute orientation by our guides on the Amish lifestyle and some of the Amish religious beliefs before beginning the driving portion of the country tour. After this brief orientation and basic questions and answers, your group will begin about an hour long drive thru the Amish countryside with your guide explaining 
rural life styles, and the Amish culture that you pass. Time is spent on subjects such as the Amish education system, life without electricity, Amish youth work ethics and job opportunities, Amish recreation, Amish family life, and the slower pace required by horse and buggy travel.
The initial driving tour usually ends at an Amish farm where lunch will be served.
After the lunch the Amish host will take your students out to the barns and outbuildings and discuss farm life, and their horse and buggy culture. There are always horses to get up close to, usually more than one breed, the uses of each will be explained in detail. Often the farm has other animals, often colts or puppies, chickens or more. Close up examinations of various in use buggies and other horse drawn farm vehicles are available and the uses and values of each are discussed. For youth from the city this can be a eye opening experience of a current living culture and an exposure to a bygone era.
After the farm tour, your group will re-board your bus and wander back towards town with your guide. Along the way, we will normally stop at an Amish country general store. Here your students can get a glimpse into “country shopping,” and more exposure to life without electricity and television, and possibly also pick up a small bit of candy or a souvenir for the trip home.
If your visit is in the Sept 15 to Oct 31 time frame, many school groups enjoy the Great Pumpkin Patch as their afternoon stop. Here on this working, centennial farm, your students can have fun with many educational 
displays of plants, animals and working farm life, not to mention the thousands of pumpkins and gourds. The Pumpkin Patch is also a moajor supplier of “curcubit” seed from around the world. A brief educational discussion can be arranged to discuss the world wide impact of gourds and squashes with hands on examples of over 100 squash from all over the globe.
When your group arrives back in Arthur around 2:30-3pm your can turn your students loose for a short while downtown to visit some shops for snacks and etc, or drop off your guide and head back towards home. Our compact downtown is safe and makes it easy for any stragglers to be rounded up for the trip home.
Costs run around $20 per student plus your transportation costs, depending on selected options. Please contact us for more information about Arthur and it’s unique educational opportunities.
Arthur is easy to get to! We are 9 miles west off I-57 (at exit 203 Arcola), 30 minutes South of Champaign, IL (I-72 & I-74) and 40 minutes north of Effingham, IL and the I-70/I-57 junction towards StLouis.
Let us help with your field trip planning details.